According to two Polish news sources, Szymon Kolecki — the 2000 Olympic silver medalist and 2008 Olympic gold medalist in the 94kg category — has announced he’s beginning an MMA career starting in 2017.

Kolecki, 35, is also a 5-time European Champion in weightlifting and served as president of Poland’s national weightlifting federation from December 2012 to August 2016. He resigned earlier this year amid doping scandals and positive tests that kept several prominent Polish weightlifters out of competition at the Rio Olympics.

Kolecki’s weightlifting career included setting a senior world record at age 18 when he clean & jerked 232.5kg in the 94kg class.

Kolecki’s first MMA fight is currently scheduled for March 4th, 2017. Details of the fight — including his first potential opponent — are yet to come.

Kolecki isn’t the first prominent Polish strength athlete to make the move to MMA in recent years. Legendary Polish strongman Mariusz Pudzianowski took up competitive MMA after a strength career that included a record 5 World’s Strongest Man titles.

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